Real estate faces a drop in activity after Ramadan

The “unprecedented” situation that professionals in the construction sector are going through does not seem to be ending anytime soon. This situation, marked by soaring prices for building materials, should result in a drop in activity in the sector of more than 50% following the month of Ramadan and, thus, jeopardize hundreds of jobs and the balance of the entire profession, lamented the National Federation of Real Estate Developers (FNPI).

“Following the soaring prices of almost all building materials in an anarchic manner, well beyond inflation, real estate developers are going through an unprecedented situation which seriously jeopardizes future buyers, the preservation of several hundred thousands of jobs and the balance of the entire profession”, she underlined in a press release published on Saturday April 23, 2022.

Faced with this, the FNPI indicated that it had carried out a series of actions on several fronts, providing, on the judicial and institutional level, for an emergency meeting with the supervising minister, in addition to a documented complaint which will be brought to the Council of Competition as well as a request for an investigation which, for its part, will be submitted to the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) and to the High Commission for Planning (HCP).

A series of actions carried out

While evoking an “administrative dimension and assistance to the purchaser”, the said federation reported a request for an extension of the social housing agreements for two years, given the difficulty of supply and the surge prices.

It also demanded the end of the application of the tax on undeveloped land, the extension of one year of the deadline for building permits and the reduction of 50% of land registration and conservation fees. for the benefit of customers and buyers whose purchasing power has been considerably impacted in recent years.

With the aim of protecting the profession once morest agreements and speculation, the FNIP has, in fine, made it known that it has initiated a process of creating a central purchasing body which will make it possible to pool the supplies of operators in the real estate construction under fully optimized and transparent purchase and payment conditions, both with Moroccan suppliers and direct imports from abroad.

It should be recalled that the Executive agreed to satisfy most of the demands of the professionals, and this, in a circular from the Head of Government, published on April 18. These are eight measures designed to pull the sector out of its lethargy and ease the burden of rising prices on businesses. For those engaged in public contracts, the said circular gave, for example, the possibility of terminating the contracts without this giving rise to retention of deposits and bank guarantees. In addition to the extension of the execution deadlines for current contracts, the restitution of late payment penalties collected in the context of current contracts, the termination without confiscation of guarantees for current contracts, etc., are also provided for.

Leave a Replay